We were eating brunch at a restaurant today when our neighbor called Tim's cell to tell us that water was gushing from the side of our house. We got home to find a nice little pond on the ground and good geyser flowing. It was from the sprinkler system that had frozen over night.
The tricky part was that the valves to turn it off were rusted and broken.
This is our neighbor who had tried to turn it off before he called us but was unable to because of its condition. They were able to turn it 1/2 off, but not entirely.
The other option was to turn off the water supply to the yard and house to make it stop. We have a shout out here to Faith. Hey Faith, remember that nice frog you played with? Try digging through the smelly remains of the frog mixed with lots of mud and water. Gross. The only thing that makes this worse is your wife taking pictures of it. (And the temperatures in the 30's.) We never actually got to the valve to turn it off.
Our very nice plumber friend (Mallory and I have been in Bible study with his wife and daughter for years) bumped us to the top of his list and was at our house within an hour. He was able turn it off at the street, cut off the broken valve on the sprinkler system, and cap it off. He said that there is a major shortage of these sprinkler system parts in the country now because of the weather, but he will get some from west coast and begin repairs in this area in a few weeks. There were 4 houses that we saw on our street alone that were gushing water from their sprinkler systems just like ours. That is just our street, not our neighborhood. We did take advantage of his advice and wrapped the rest of the pipes!
This is our neighbor who had tried to turn it off before he called us but was unable to because of its condition. They were able to turn it 1/2 off, but not entirely.
The other option was to turn off the water supply to the yard and house to make it stop. We have a shout out here to Faith. Hey Faith, remember that nice frog you played with? Try digging through the smelly remains of the frog mixed with lots of mud and water. Gross. The only thing that makes this worse is your wife taking pictures of it. (And the temperatures in the 30's.) We never actually got to the valve to turn it off.
Our very nice plumber friend (Mallory and I have been in Bible study with his wife and daughter for years) bumped us to the top of his list and was at our house within an hour. He was able turn it off at the street, cut off the broken valve on the sprinkler system, and cap it off. He said that there is a major shortage of these sprinkler system parts in the country now because of the weather, but he will get some from west coast and begin repairs in this area in a few weeks. There were 4 houses that we saw on our street alone that were gushing water from their sprinkler systems just like ours. That is just our street, not our neighborhood. We did take advantage of his advice and wrapped the rest of the pipes!
6 comments:
tim- why didn't your wife get you a sweatshirt???
jo
Thanks, Jo.
I was wearing his jacket! The stress was likely keeping him warm.
oh, Kel!!! I mean, Oh, poor Tim- I guess there was a nice mug of hot chocolate waiting for you when you came inside?
Cheri
How exciting!! Poor tim :(
Anmer
Would never have guessed that would happen in Houston! Julie
Sweetie-pie ... you forgot to mention in your wonderful story that by the time all of that fun was over I had about 1/2 hour to pack for my week-long trip to Germany and Netherlands. No stress at all - lots of laughs.
(And, by the way, I was FREEZING and could have used a sweatshirt or a cup of hot chocolate - thank you very much.)
Timmy-boy
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